Saturday, August 4, 2007

This kid, that kid, and the other ones

This morning I took Ben and Clara outside to use the sand/water table Clara received for her first birthday. We have had the thing for three weeks and haven't used it once. It took The Man an entire week to put the thing together and and it has been so blazing hot here, we haven't spent any time on the deck to use it. At 8:30 this morning I decided to break it in, before the heat drove us back inside again. Both kids really loved it. Clara is still only just pulling up and can't even cruise on the thing, but she loved splashing in the water and playing alongside her big brother.

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I had to take Brandon for a haircut today. His shag had become so shaggy that you couldn't see his eyes. He has a party this evening and needed to look "swoll". Swoll is one of his new words. The boy requires a translator these days.

I wonder if I will ever get over my fear of Brandon going to these parties. I am one of those parents, who call and drill the party-givers parents on where they will be during the party. I can just imagine the looks when I call with my twenty questions. Like, will they actually be supervising my child, and not camped out upstairs while Brandon spends the evening in their basement doing shots and getting naked. You should see the mortification on Brandon's face during these conversations. Okay, I admit it, I tend to over-react a wee bit on these things. Just wait til your kids are teenagers.

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Yesterday, Allison and I headed out alone for the afternoon. We met my mother for lunch and then went shopping for back to school clothes. School in our county starts back next week. Our afternoon was for the most part enjoyable. However, in the ways of mother-daughter shopping trips everywhere, there were still bouts of whiny grumbling when we couldn't agree on clothes, or when to stop for a drink. She ended up with a couple very cute, and appropriate, outfits and she is now really looking forward to starting middle school.

On the way home, I had just gotten off the phone with her father about our dinner plans, and she blurted out, "Dad really loves you!"

"You think so, huh?" I said, "Why do you think that?" curious as to why she had made this random comment.

"Well", she said, with just a twinge of amazement in her voice, "He always compliments your cooking"

"Ah", I said, with just a twinge of annoyance in my voice. "That must be true love indeed."

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The roller-coaster of Allison's emotional state, however, is sometimes a tiresome ride to be on. Her elation last night, with her new clothes, gave way to tears this morning when she found out her cousin got a new kitten. Now Allison has been begging us, almost daily, for a kitten for two straight years. However, we already have two old grumpy cats and a dog that she is responsible for caring for, and she doesn't. Care for them that is. Well not in the feeding/litter box sense. Not without constant nagging reminders from me. She assures me that things would be different with a kitten, but I have been a mother two long to fall for that.

I admit, I almost caved in this spring when our vets office had an adorable litter but I had to remind myself that they only stay a kitten for a short period of time and I really don't want another cat to take care of for the next 20 years. Her self-pity and jealousy about her cousin's kitten was more than she could bare and she was was wailing and crying that I was depriving her of her "greatest wish in the world". I have little tolerance for this drama. We had a talk about being happy for other people, reminded her about lapses in her pet-care now, and sent

her downstairs until she could pull herself together. I am after all the worst mama ever.

It's official actually, I won the title for July. I am so proud. Heh. I am sure that Allison and Brandon are thinking they knew it all along.

Ohhhh noooo! I had no idea that Allison reacted this way. She certainly didn't give a hint of jealousy to Taylor, so you should be proud. You can remind her that Taylor, unfortunately, had to go through the trauma of putting her beloved Joey to sleep unexpectedly. If it weren't for that, she definitely would not have been able to get a kitten. She went through a tremendous amount of sorrow to get to this point. And, she also has to save $500 for an "expense account" for this kitten in the case it gets sick like Joey did. That means she'll be doing chores for nothing-except saving-for the next year and a half. My (and Don's) theory was, you want a cat, you're showing some responsibility for it. Surprisingly, she agreed. Maybe that'll help Allison understand.

I loved this snapshot into your daily life. The good and the not-so-good.

I know I will have the same response when my son starts attending boy/girl parties (which is probably very soon!) I am already prepared that 7th grade is going to bring a whole new batch of parenting issues. Oh dear...

I'm a child of God. I am blessed to have been married for 15 years to an amazing, kind and funny man who, for some incomprehensible reason, is crazy-in-love with me too. We have four beautiful and exhausting children. I am an emotional, chatty, girly, disorganized, work in progress.
I strive each day to meet the needs of my family, reflect the love of my Savior and find joy in the chaos of my life.